This Vegan Vanilla Frosting is the perfect dairy free buttercream for all of your decorating needs. This dairy free frosting is smooth, soft, creamy and dreamy. The perfect vegan cake frosting!
Most of you probably know that I have my own vegan custom cake company in the Boston area. I love making cakes. And I especially love making cakes for non vegans because they always email me shocked at how delicious their cake was. Its super fun and I get to be really creative.
And since I make custom cakes, its important for me to have reliable recipes. And this Vegan Vanilla Frosting is the best vegan cake frosting. Its smooth, creamy and dreamy but sturdy enough to frost between cake layers and perfect for writing on cakes.
How to Make Dairy Free Buttercream
This Vegan Vanilla Frosting is a simple and quick recipe, but there are a few really important notes.
First, be sure that all of your ingredients are at room temperature. It will be hard to incorporate the powdered sugar if your non dairy butter is cold. And that puts you in danger of over compensating by adding more plant milk than you need. Which will leave you with a soupy mess.
Second is be be sure you sift the powdered sugar. The goal is smooth, light and fluffy vanilla frosting. Powdered sugar is prone to clumps, so take the time to make sure its sifted and free of all clumps.
The third and perhaps most crucial tip is to scrape the bowl down a LOT. When you think you cant scrape the bowl down any more, do it one more time. The paddle attachment doesn’t quite reach the side of the bowl so the stuff that gets stuck there wont get incorporated. So scrape that bowl down throughout the process for the creamiest vanilla frosting of them all.
My fourth and final tip for perfect Vegan Vanilla Frosting is: be sure to add the milk slowly, one tablespoon at a time. And fully incorporate the first tablespoon before adding the second to avoid over doing it. If you add too much milk, the buttercream may be too soft, so slow and steady wind the race, okay?
A hydrangea 
A rosette
My Favorite Ingredients For Buttercream
My favorite butter substitute is Earth Balance Soy-Free Buttery Sticks. I use the original Earth Balance Buttery Sticks if I’m in a pinch, but I prefer the flavor of the soy free. I also really like Country Crocks Plant Butter Sticks!
For the plant milk, I use So Delicious Coconut Milk. But, any plant milk like almond or even oat works perfectly. I make this Vegan Vanilla Frosting all the time. In doing so, I have noticed that the type of plant milk doesn’t really matter. So use what you have!
Looking for More Vegan Buttercream and Frosting Recipes?
Salted Maple Peanut Buttercream
I can’t wait for you to make this because I know you will love it. My Vegan Vanilla Frosting holds its shape really well so you can pipe beautiful designs like the ones pictures above and more. Its great for cake writing, spreading onto cake or eating with a spoon. Happy frosting!
Vegan Vanilla Frosting
Ingredients
- 2 Sticks of Earth Balance Buttery Spread room temperature
- 4 Cups Powdered Sugar Sifted
- 2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1-2 Tbsp Plant Milk of Choice
Instructions
- Cream the Earth Balance in the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 1 minute, scraping down the bowl after 30 seconds to ensure even creaming. Next, add sifted powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, letting the sugar incorporate before adding the next cup.
- Once all the powdered sugar is in the bowl, mix on medium speed for about 2-3 minutes, stopping every minute or so to scrape the bowl down to ensure that all of your buttercream is incorporating air evenly.
- After about 3 minutes, your buttercream will still be pretty thick. Turn the mixer to low speed and add the vanilla extract 1 teaspoon at a time, fully incorporating the first before adding the second. Your buttercream should start to noticably get lighter here. If you have achieved your desired buttercream consistency, stop here.
- If you want your buttercream to be a little lighter, add your plant milk of choice 1 tablespoon at a time, incorporating completely before adding another tablespoon, until you achieve your desired consistency.
- And now you’re ready to frost away!
Let me know how this recipe worked for you!
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